Grapefruit Hibiscus Curd

by autumn on January 9, 2012

Last week, I saw this stunning Orange Cardamom Curd that Marisa posted over at Simple Bites and I realized I hadn’t taken proper advantage of citrus yet this winter. In the Northeast, eating in season has such urgency in the summer that in the winter it’s easy to forget that there are things that are at their best when we’re the coldest, even if they’re not right in our backyards.

I paired a pink grapefruit with hibiscus to help retain the pretty color in my final product. My egg yolks were super orange and I still ended up with a rosy curd: success! Hibiscus is known by many names and has cultural and medicinal uses all over the world. Here it provides color and little extra sour kick. In addition to being a lovely hue, I was happy that the curd retained a very slight bit of the grapefruit’s bitterness.

I followed David Lebovitz’s method for lemon curd exactly, just made adjustments to the ingredients. I love this recipe because it’s no-fuss and I’ve had great success with using it for lemon curd in the past. I know I can’t improve on his description of the process, so I’m going to give you my slight adjustments to the ingredients and send you over to him for the rest of the instructions.

PS: Be sure to save your grapefruit peels with the pith on. I’ve got a little grapefruit juniper bitters experiment going and I’ll share the results with you in about a week.

I freeze my lemon curd all the time, and it works great. I can barely taste the difference between the fresh stuff and the curd that’s been frozen. Plus, a still-slightly-frozen spoonful of lemon curd is one of my favorite treats. It’s like super-rich ice cream!

Welcome.

Hi! I'm Autumn. I'm a freelance writer in the desert, who adores home cooking. Here you'll find greenmarket-focused gluten-free food: sweets, cocktails, and preserving projects. These are all of the things I love to make and do. I'm the author of Beyond Canning! Read more about me here.